1942-1961
Brian Douglas Wilson was born on June 20, 1942, in Inglewood, California, the eldest son of Audree Neva (née Korthof) and Murry Wilson, a musician and machinist. His two younger brothers were Dennis and Carl. When Brian was two, the family moved from Inglewood to nearby Hawthorne.. Speaking of Brian's unusual musical abilities prior to his first birthday, his father said that, as a baby, he could repeat the melody from "When the Caissons Go Rolling Along" after only a few verses had been sung by the father. At about age two, Brian heard George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which had an enormous emotional impact on him. Brian was quarterback on his high school football team at Hawthorne High School. He also played baseball and was a cross-country runner in his senior year.
Brian sang at school functions and with his family and friends at home, teaching Dennis and Carl harmony parts. He also played piano obsessively after school, deconstructing the harmonies of the Four Freshmen by listening to short segments of their songs on a phonograph, then working to recreate the blended sounds note by note on the keyboard. In 1960, Brian enrolled as a psychology major at El Camino College in Los Angeles. In 1961 he wrote his first original melody, loosely based on "When You Wish Upon a Star.” The song was eventually known as "Surfer Girl.” Along with his brothers, cousin Mike Love and Al Jardine, they recorded the song “Surfin’” in 1961, where it became a local hit on Candix Records. Soon they would become the Beach Boys and change popular music forever.
Early Influences
“[I loved] beautiful songs by singers like Rosemary Clooney, vocal harmonies from groups like the Four Freshmen, and the boogie-woogie. Those are the sounds that started moving around in my mind. When I got a little older, I switched over to piano and started picking out the melodies of songs I heard on the radio. I picked out the melody to “Tenderly” and played along with myself while I sang it.
I learned to listen and sing, and then I learned how to teach others to listen and sing. Dennis and Carl and I had a little trio going, and I started bringing songs to the group. I brought songs by the Chordettes and the Hi-Lo’s and Nat King Cole. I brought “Ivory Tower,” which was a hit for Cathy Carr and Gale Storm when I was fourteen or so: “Come down from your ivory tower / Let love come into your heart.”
– Brian Wilson
The Beginning: 1961
Acting as the Beach Boys manager, Murry Wilson landed the group's first paying gig (for which they earned $300) on New Year's Eve, 1961, at the Ritchie Valens Memorial Dance in Long Beach.
In their earliest public appearances, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Mike Love and David Marks wore heavy wool jacket-like shirts that local surfers favored before switching to their trademark striped shirts and white pants.
By 1962, the Beach Boys would begin their 50-year run as one of the greatest bands in the history of Rock ‘n Roll.
Surfin’ – November 27, 1961
“Surfin’” began the Beach Boys' music career, establishing them at the vanguard of what would later be regarded the “California Sound.” Brian: "One day, my brother Dennis came home from the beach and said, 'Hey, surfing's getting really big. You guys ought to write a song about it.’"
When the group unpacked the first box of singles from Candix, they found that their band name had been changed from "The Pendletones" to "The Beach Boys.” Label promotion man Russ Regan explained to Murry Wilson that he had taken the liberty of giving the group a new name to associate them more directly with the popular surf-music genre. And the story begins …